The Ottawa Charge are heading back to the PWHL’s Walter Cup Finals for the second time in as many years.
The Charge held their final practice at the Canadian Tire Centre Tuesday before departing for Montreal in the afternoon. The team is awaiting the result of the deciding game in the Montreal Victoire vs. Minnesota Frost series.
The game is taking place in Montreal Tuesday evening, postponed from Monday due to illness spread among Victoire players.
“Personally, I have absolutely no preference,” said Charge forward Alexa Vasko when asked whether she preferred to play Montreal or Minnesota.
“I think who we have in the room, who we have as a staff, we are ready to face absolutely anyone.”
A Montreal win would set up the first all-Canadian matchup in the Walter Cup Finals. A Minnesota win would see a rematch of last year’s finals where Ottawa fell in the series 3-1, losing all three games in overtime.
“A little redemption tour would be pretty awesome to have for sure,” said Charge forward Gabbie Hughes.
“But it would be fun to play Montreal. It’s always fun to face up against that roster, especially Poulin and play against them. So, either way, it’ll be exciting.”
“We know there’s three more wins that we need to earn, and that’s what we’re most excited about,” said head coach Carla MacLeod.
Thousands of fans packed the CTC to watch Ottawa advance to the finals on Sunday. The first two games will be played on the road before the Charge return home for Game 3 on Monday.
“We’re all excited to have another bite at the apple to see if we can win this thing,” said team general manager Mike Hirshfeld.
The Charge’s future home is still up in the air with construction set to take place at the arena at TD Place. Hirshfeld says discussions are taking place over a possible permanent move to the Canadian Tire Centre.
“I think there’s lots of discussions going on. We don’t know where we’re going to be playing next year, but lots of discussions going on behind the scenes,” Hirshfeld said.
